The first female Hispanic to lead a U.S. college or university, García takes pride in her young institution’s makeup: 93% Hispanic, mostly bilingual and 91% first-generation university students. “We are a preview of what the rest of Texas and the rest of the U.S. is going to morph into,” says García.

García has presided for nearly 20 years over the university, which backs up to the Mexican border.

After students protested the construction of a border wall on campus, García struck a deal with the federal government to upgrade an existing security fence rather than building an 18-foot high fence through the Fort Brown Memorial Golf Course.

The university is also a stone’s throw away from drug cartel violence in Mexico. In September, stray bullets from a shootout across the Rio Grande in Matamoros hit a building and a car, prompting university police to close campus early. No one was injured.

Mark Yudof, former chancellor of the UT System and now president of the University of California, also made the Top 10 list.